Queen’s Park 4 Kilmarnock 2

McDonell brought the game to life in three minutes when he came off the left wing and sent a shot flashing across the face of the Killie goal.

On ten minutes Queen’s opened the scoring when a long kick forward from goalkeeper Sam Kane found Connolly who brought the ball under control and fired for goal only to see his shot blocked.

FIDDES picked up the loose ball 20 yards out and made no mistake with a low drive into the left-hand corner of the visitors’ net.

The lead was only held for a minute as Kilmarnock broke down the left wing and when a miscued shot fell into the path of Kian Leslie at the far post he made no mistake from six yards out.

The Black and White youngsters looked to hit back quickly, and Fiddes was just out of reach when Magnus Mackenzie drilled a cross in from the left.

On 21 minutes it was 2-1 for Queen’s as Timam Scott fizzed the ball in from the right and CONNOLLY timed his run perfectly to flick home and find the net.

Just before the half hour mark Ayrshire striker Samuel Duruh was shown a straight red card after he and Jay McGarva came together near the half-way line with the Spiders defender booked for his part in proceedings.

With 38 minutes played Scott cut in once more and slid a pass into Connolly’s path with Aidan Glavin in the visiting goal scooping up the striker’s shot.

Three minutes later appeals for a penalty after Scott tumbled in the box were ignored with Queen’s Park frustrated again a minute later when Fiddes picked up on a defensive error and passed to Aidan McGinlay who sent an 18-yard shot stinging against a post.

Half-time – Queen’s Park B 2 Kilmarnock Reserves 1

Five minutes into the restart Ross McLean and Scott combined well on the right and McLean’s cross was taken off the toes of Connolly just as he shaped to shoot.

On 56 minutes Kilmarnock levelled for a second time when a curling Leslie free-kick rebounded off the inside of a post and Ruari Ellis was on hand to head the loose ball past Kane.

Within the next 60 seconds Cole Burke burst past the home defence and only a fine stop from Kane prevented the 10-man visitors going ahead.

Queen’s Park B regained the lead on the hour mark when McDONNELL skipped past Lewis Mackie and was tripped in the process with the striker cracking home the resultant penalty.

The Rugby Park side looked to pull level a third time and Kane had to show some nifty footwork to dribble past two advancing attackers before clearing with the shot-stopper on hand with 73 minutes played to accept a headed pass-back from Darryl Carrick who was under pressure from a visiting attack.

Kane use his hands to great effect shortly afterwards as he got down to save a well-struck Ben Brannan drive that had deflected off Euan Bowie.

McDonnell came close to adding his second goal with 13 minutes left as he skipped past one defender and fired past Glavin only to see his shot hit the far post.

Substitute Josiah Sowa showed his electric pace with four minutes left as he hit the touchline and cut the ball back for McDonnell who had a shot charged down and a minute later Jamie Bradley got on the end of another Sowa run and cross only to fire just off target.

In the final minute it was third time lucky for Sowa who hit the touchline again and reversed the ball back to CONNOLLY who turned and shot home to complete the scoring.

Queen’s Park B– Sam Kane, Ross McLean (Leo Clark 61), Magnus Mackenzie, Darryl Carrick, Jay McGarva, Michael Collie, Timam Scott, Aidan McGinlay (Jamie Bradley 61), Lennon Connolly, Max Fiddes (Josiah Sowa 79), Tyrece McDonnell.
Unused substitutes – Zach Balfour (G/k), Liam McVey, Josh Howe.

Kilmarnock Reserves – Aidan Glavin, Ruari Ellis, Oliver Bainbridge (Duncan Barlow 83), Lewis Mackie, Ethan Brown, Archie Traynor, Kian Leslie, Ben Brannan (Josh Gilmour 83), Samuel Kamsi Duruh, Grant Marchant (Euan Bowie 53), Cole Burke (Shay McKeown 71)
Unused substitutes – Ben Coutts (G/k).